Miniseason lobster divers need good boat drivers

While you're in the water trying to catch lobsters, your boater needs to keep an eye out for you

July 23, 2013|By Steve Waters, Sun Sentinel

If you're headed out for lobster miniseason Wednesday and Thursday, here's a safety tip to keep in mind:

Make sure your boat driver knows what he or she is doing.

Miniseason is so popular that some divers end up leaving a non-diving, non-boater in charge of the boat while they go in the water to catch lobsters.

Problems arise because the boat driver doesn't stay with his or her divers. In some cases, the driver doesn't know how to drive the boat, or even start the boat.

Many experienced boaters have stories about picking up stranded divers who were carried away by strong currents and, when they surfaced, their boats were nowhere to be found. After their boats had been located, the drivers often didn't realize that their divers had been missing.

Fish of the week

Jessica Florens and her boyfriend Jaret Hunter each caught a surprise while fishing for largemouth bass with shiners in a West Broward canal. Florens caught and released a 3-pound snook on a live shiner from the freshwater canal, which was adjacent to the Everglades. Hunter caught a snakehead weighing more than 8 pounds using a dead shiner.

"We never expected to catch a snook in that location. It was a shocker to us," Hunter said. "We caught plenty of good-sized bass."

Paul D'arcy and George Williams caught 17.15 pounds of fish to win Sunday's Bass-N-Fools club tournament on Lake Okeechobee out of Clewiston. Terry Evans and Dave Piasecki were second at 16.36, followed by Mel Katz and Scott Krull at 16.27, Tim Feller and Scott Crowe at 15.48 and Sam Wild and Miguel Herrera at 15.11. Evans and Piasecki had the biggest bass at 6.88. Most of the fish were caught early in the day using swimbaits.

Fishing conditions were terrible for Sunday's King of the Glades Club Trail tournament in the canals along Alligator Alley out of the mile marker 35 boat ramp, but Billy Brown and Dave Mathis prevailed with 9.97 pounds of fish despite high, muddy water and a fast current. Mike Lendl and Ross Myers were second at 9.87. James Sloan was third at 8.51. John Lippincott had the biggest bass at 4.4. The top two teams fished Gambler Giggy Heads with Sweebo Worms around the bridges.

Contingen-Seas topped a fleet of 21 boats to win Saturday's Internationally World Famous Treasure Trove Fishing Tournament in Fort Lauderdale, which raised more than $4,000 for charity. Chris Hartman of Miss Britt was the top angler and had the biggest tuna. LaurenThomas was the top female angler. Drew Heitner of Contingen-Seas had the biggest kingfish. J.J. Johnson of Miss Britt had the heaviest dolphin.

Lionfish derby: Recreational divers will be trying to remove as many lionfish as they can from local coral reefs in Saturday's second annual Teeples Memorial Lionfish Derby hosted by Reef Environmental Education Foundation out of 15th Street Fisheries in Fort Lauderdale.

More than $3,500 in cash prizes will be awarded. Last year's event removed 419 of the invasive species, which are native to the South Pacific and Indian oceans.

The captains meeting is 6:30 p.m. Friday at the restaurant. Competition begins at sunrise Saturday, with the weigh-in starting around 4 p.m. Spectators are encouraged to attend and to taste free lionfish samples.

The event is the first of three in REEF's 2013 South Florida Lionfish Derby Series. The others are Aug. 17 out of Sailfish Marina in Palm Beach Shores and Sept. 14 out of John Pennekamp State Park in Key Largo. To register and for more information, visit REEF.org/lionfish/derbies or call 305-852-0030.